Barely a week left for the south Indian state of Telangana going to Assembly polls, the Congressand the Telugu Desam party (TDP), which were on either side of the camps, have firmed up their minds to leave the past and forge a new alliance and face the might of Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS) led by K. Chandrasekara Rao (KCR). The TDP severed the umbilical chord with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as early as March this year and its leader, Nara Chandrababu Naidu (N. Chandrababu Naidu) is ever since been toiling to stitch a strong opposition alliance to defeat the ruling BJP led NDA in the federal election to be held in 2019.

Setting aside the age difference, Naidu who is two decades older than the Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, decided to sail on the same boat, without leaving any speculation as to who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate, backing himself off, Naidu had earlier clarified that he was not into the race.

Gandhi, in fact, had told the New Delhi Television (NDTV) channel last night that the Congress and the TDP were no longer rivals and added that the chemistry is working out pretty well like never before. Stating that the new bonhomie with the TDP and its leader, Naidu is working well, Gandhi added: “We like each other. We think there is a lot we can to together. I think, you are going to see that in the forthcoming polls, we are going to win the elections.”

Gandhi, who visited the capital city of Telangana, Hyderabad yesterday in order to campaign for the alliance, which was firmed up during the meeting he had with Naidu early this month in Delhi, which will be broad-based and long-term.

While speaking on the occasion, Naidu said, “We are very clear that India is very, very important. Therefore, it is our bounden duty for both TDP and Congress and other like minded political parties to stitch an grand alliance to defeat the BJP in the 2018 Lok Sabha polls and save the nation.”

Both Rahul Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu, taking on the might of TRS will campaign, consisting of public meetings and roadshows. The two leaders will address the voters sharing the dais together in three rallies at Asif Nagar, Khammam and Sanathnagar.

Anti Incumbency Factor

TRS, which is facing anti-incumbency factor, is contesting in all seats. The TDP, which has a slender voter base, since the bifurcation of the combined Andhra, many people had relocated to Vijawada and other place leaving Hyderabad and other regions of Telangana, has now forged alliance with the Congress, which still has some clout. TDP has formed alliance with other political parties such as Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and stitched a grand alliance, “Mahakutami“, which is considered as the initial experimentation before the grand alliance could actually take of at the federal level at the General Elections next year.

Facilitator

The new avatar of Naidu is that of a facilitator, who is travelling the length and breadth of the country to iron out differences with various political parties and cobble a grand alliance with a Common Minimum Programme. The understanding the various opposition parties have arrived at is to fight the election on regional basis and depending on the poll outcome, if it is positive, based on the number of seats each party had won in the Lok Sabha seats, then they would sit and decide the Prime Minister.

In order to drum up support to his ambitious plan of grand alliance, Naidu has been visiting Delhi often meeting senior political leaders such as Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)and Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference (NC)in addition to the meeting he had with the Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader, Arvind Kejriwal.

If you trace the genesis of the TDP, way back in the early eighties, when Naidu’s father in law and matinee idol, Nandamuri Basava Taraka Rama Rao (NT Rama Rao), a popular actor in the combined Andhra Pradesh wanted to end the mis-rule of Congress. Within months of forming the Telugu Desam Party, Rao rode to power when the State Assembly elections were held in 1983, thus he formed the maiden non-Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh.

Rao introduced several measures including offering rice for the poor for just Rs.2. When his Government was pulled down by the Congress by anointing Nathella Bhaskara Raoby the all powerful Indira Gandhi led Congress Governmentat the helm, Rao took his cadres and MPs to Delhi and protested in front of the Parliament for justice. Rao was also very friendly with the then neighbouring Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Marudur Gopala Menon Ramachandran (MG Ramachandranor more popularly known as MGRlike his counterpart NTR), another cinema icon in the Tamil tinsel town.

Naidu started off his political career as a student leader of the TDP and married NTR’s daughter and after the demise of NTR, took over the mantle from his father in law. In the late nineties, Naidu ran for the Assembly election forging alliance with Left parties. Eventually, the political compulsions drew him to have political understanding with the BJP. At the start of this year, Naidu exited the NDA camp, infuriated over the BJP led federal government’s reticence to give special status to the newly formed state of Andrha Pradesh after the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra. In fact, the BJP had initially promised the TDP that they would give special status, only to back track and further to frustrate him, refused to fund more for building the capital Amaravatiin AP.

Buriying all the hatchets, Gandhi, who had earlier admitted that both the Congress and the TDP had “a past” – last night said, “We are working together because there is a threat to this nation from the Prime Minister and from the BJP.”

Naidu also added that it was a national mission that all the political parties, shedding their differences had joined hands withe purpose of unseating the BJP in the hustings in 2019.

In an apparent attempt to bring all the non-BJP political parties under one umbrella to take on the ruling party at the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and winning the power, the Telugu Desam Party Chief and the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu has urged all the opposition parties for a meeting on November 22 at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi. Naidu said that the meeting is tentatively suggested on November 22 and it should happen, subject to the availability of various leaders.

Preceding this announcement, Naidu had a series of meeting with various political heads right from Delhi to Chennai in the past few weeks. In this connection, the TDP leader had met the General Secretary of the Congress Party, and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot in AP capital of Amaravati yesterday. The day before, Naidu had also met the DMK President, MK Stalin in Chennai.

Stating that meeting was fruitful with Stalin, Naidu had said that all the non-BJP political parties are joining hands to bring them on a single platform. Few political parties might have reservation about some issues, he added, “TDP had difference of opinion with the Congress for four decades. Nevertheless, we are trying to bring all political parties except BJP on a single platform. Democracy is paramount. Therefore, it is for the people to sink their differences. The citizens are ready for it now as is evident.”

Naidu briefed the media in Chennai after an hour long meeting he had with Stalin at his residence. Before that, Naidu had also met the Janata Dal Secular Chief and former Prime Minister, HD Deve Gowda and his son and the current Chief Minister of Karnataka, HD Kumaraswamy in Bangalore on Thursday. So, Naidu, who is not nursing the ambition of becoming the Prime Minister, is on a back to back meeting with major political parties other than BJP. At the Bangalore meeting, the three leaders were on the same page on the need to unite the Opposition and save India’s institutions from the BJP. After the meeting, Kumaraswamy had even stated that the next year’s hustings will be a repeat of 1996, referring the the United Front Government backed by Congress from the outside, in which his father Deve Gowda became the PM, followed by the late Inder Kumar Gujral. Naidu, as a convener of the United Front had played a crucial role, which he is trying to do it even at this juncture. The seasoned politician, who visited New Delhi last week had a series of meeting with various political party leaders including Congress party chief, Rahul Gandhi (TDP and Congress has forged alliance to contest the forthcoming elections in Telangana), Farooq Abdullah of National Conference and Sharad Pawar of NCP. Earlier, Naidu had also met leaders like Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Samajwajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal.

Apparently, Naidu’s efforts are bearing fruit and he is getting encomiums from various quarters, especially from the Congress party. Puducherry (Pondycherry) Chief Minister, V Narayanasamy was of the opinion that Naidu had set out a journey to united the opposition parties with an intention of forming a secular front government, ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As Naidu has assured the other leaders of various political parties that he had opted himself out of the PM race, the apparent goal is to stitch an alliance with a common minimum programme and fight the Lok Sabha hustings with their regional influences and once they emerge as winners, then they would sit and decide who should become the Prime Minister depending on the number of Lok Sabha seat each political party had won.

As three crucial states in the Hindi heartland could decide the fate of the BJP, where factors such as anti-incumbency factor, in addition to failure of election promises of the BJP ruled states and corruption could pose negative factor. As the Lok Sabha polls are only months away, if Naidu and other leaders can form an alliance with a common minimum programme, they might succeed in unseating BJP and forming a new Government with development as a single agenda. At this juncture, the speech, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal made during the inauguration of Signature Bridge, where he praises Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister for his vision to lay emphasis on science and technology and good governance. Rather than polarising the country in the name of religion and temple issues, India should march ahead with developmental agenda.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party Chief today had a meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi today, a meeting, which the former termed it as a “Democratic Compulsion.” Apparently, Naidu had visited Gandhi at the latter’s residence in an attempt to garner opposition unity to take on the ruling BJP at the next year’s Lok Sabha polls, IE reported.

“We have to save the nation and defend democracy. It is a democratic compulsion and we have joined together to protect our country,” Naidu said while addressing the media. This was the TDP chief’s first meeting with Rahul Gandhi after getting out of the alliance with the NDA. The two had shared the dais at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in May.

Emphasising the need for opposition parties to unite against the saffron party, Gandhi said, “We had a very good meeting. The gist was that we have to defend the democracy and future of the country. So, we are coming together to work together; all opposition forces must unite. We are not going to get into the past. We are going to talk about the present and the future. Opposition forces need to come together to provide a vision to the country because of the current situation.”

Talking about unemployment and alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal, Gandhi said, “It is very clear that corruption is taking place. Institutions that can investigate are being attacked. A proper inquiry on what all happened, where the money went and who did corruption, that is what I am pushing very aggressively. The nation wants to know this.”

Slew of meetings

Earlier in the day, Naidu had met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and held talks of building a nationwide alliance against the saffron party. After meeting Pawar and Abdullah in the afternoon, Naidu had told reporters, “We must protect the future generations. There is a need to chalk out a programme for the future. We must act in the interest of the nation.” Abdullah, on the other hand, said the country was going through “difficult times” and emphasised on the need to “save democracy”.

Expressing concern over “assault” on institutions like the CBI and the RBI, Pawar said the non-BJP parties will come out with a common minimum programme to take on the government. “If we collectively work to save democracy, we can definitely save the institutions. Chandrababu (Naidu) will talk to other state political leaders in this regard,” the NCP chief said. Naidu also met Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. However, TDP sources claimed that the duo met “coincidentally” at the airport.

Watershed

The meeting between Naidu and Gandhi could be a watershed in the history of TDP, established by Naidu’s father-in-law, late NT Rama Tao in the early 1980s with the sole purpose of defeating the Congress in undivided Andhra. He was successful within a year and became the first non-Congress CM of AP in 1983. Now the TDP, under Naidu, is already in talks with the Congress for an alliance in Telangana.

Naidu, who walked out of the NDA alliance this year over demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh, is now trying to bring all like-minded opposition parties together to form an alliance as an alternative to BJP. “I have taken the responsibility to save the country from this threat. It is the duty of all to save the country,” he said.

On his previous visit to the national capital, Naidu had met a cross-section of non-Congress and non-BJP leaders in an effort to bring them together against the NDA. During his visit, he met the likes of BSP chief Mayawati, AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, former BJP leader and government critique Yashwant Sinha, and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav.

Credible Alternative

Naidu, who was the convenor of the United Front coalition, pointed out that the TDP and he himself had played a role in the formation of the coalition governments in 1989 and later in 1996. He said coalition and minority governments have “done well” to implement “clear policies”, and argued that political compulsions have always brought parties together. He said he will play the role of a “facilitator” in helping evolve a credible alternative and said that he is not interested in becoming the Prime Minister, added the report.

“Frauds in the last four years have outnumbered the achievements of BJP Government. Vijay Mallya led a scam of about Rs.9,000 crore, Nirav Modi of Rs.11,500 crore, Jatin Mehta of Rs.7,000 crore, Nitin Sandesara of Rs.5,000 crore. How were they able to escape with people’s money so easily?”, AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu was quoted as saying by the Indian Express report.

“How many more fraud cases before the country sees the true face of BJP government? Behind the facade of false promises lies the truth about farmer debt crisis, rising cases of corruption, attacks on women, communal violence, growing unrest among people and serious threat to democracy,” Naidu was quoted as saying by the report.

Naidu, who met opposition leaders including Aam Aadmi Party chief, Arvind Kejriwal, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, urged political parties to come together to take the requisite steps to oust the present NDA Government, noted the report.

Nadu tweeted, “It is the need of the hour for all the leaders of the country to come forth, unite & take necessary steps to protect the country from a state of anarchy. Any kind of threat to our democratic values must face a strong opposition. People’s faith in the government must be restored.”

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Naidu stressed the urgent need to unite against the ruling BJP at the Centre “to protect the country from a state of anarchy.”

Naidu also took to Twitter to list out the “fraud cases” of the Narendra Modi Government, asked how many such cases will the country have to witness “before it sees the true face of the BJP.”

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader also charged the Union Government with discrimination against the newly formed state and failure to grant it a special status, the report said. “Special Category Status was promosed to Andhra Pradesh in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 in order to help the State tackle the financial crisis after bifurcation of the united Andhra into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. We had an alliance with BJP, but on coming to power, PM Modi failed to fulfil the promises he made to the people of AP before elections”, Naidu charged and added, “The Union Government has shown discrimination against our newly-formed State. In spite of the devastation caused by cyclone Titli, Home Minister Rajnath Singh chose to inaugurate party office in Guntur instead of visiting cyclone-affected areas. People’s trust in BJP government has been shattered.”

Raking up demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, Naidu said, “Every citizen of this country suffered because of demonetisation, the imposition of GST amplified the crisis. In four years, no honest attempts have been made against black money. Thanks to demonetisation, the country is not growing and even the investors are losing confidence.”

Raking up demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, Naidu said, “Every citizen of this country suffered because of demonetisation, the imposition of GST amplified the crisis. In four years, no honest attempts have been made against black money. Thanks to demonetisation, the country is not growing and even the investors are losing confidence.”